


kyber hearts

by glorious_clio



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Genre: Gen, Join the Resistance, MayThe4th Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 04:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14537094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_clio/pseuds/glorious_clio
Summary: In the events after the Battle of Crait, the Resistance is back on their heels. Rey drags the broken Skywalker lightsaber, trying to put the pieces back together. Leia Organa has never built a lightsaber, but Rey needs a mentor, and Leia still needs to pass on what she’s learned.





	kyber hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not over it. But in a good way? Unbeta’d. May the 4th be with you!

The _Falcon_ was never quiet. Her hull creaked, her engines groaned, her pipes popped like arthritic joints.

Just as noisy was the tightly packed crew -- the last of the Resistance. Or the first. There were people practicing hand to hand combat in the hold. To blow off steam, there were constant games of dejarik or sabacc. Rose, still recovering but steady on her feet now, became something of a mother porg - all the little ones followed her wherever she went. In short, it was chaos with so many people eating and sleeping and planning their next move.

Rey could use the quiet. Desert child that she was, she wasn’t used to the noise. Luke’s lightsaber was in two pieces. Leia said that this was all she needed. But as Rey slowly went through the sacred texts, she couldn’t see how that could possibly be.

“Any luck?” Finn asked once.

“No,” she said with a frown.

He distracted her with a hug and managed to make her laugh.

She was constantly paging through the fragile texts, they crinkled under her fingertips. Centuries of damp had taken their toll on the paper. Their bindings felt loose and weak. The ink often blurred under her sweaty hand.

Trying to help her put the saber back together, BB-8 brought her spare parts and tools that Rey knew R2 and Chewie needed to hold the ship together. Out of BB-8’s sight, she returned them to their rightful places. The _Falcon_ , at least, made sense.

Seeking a place without interruption on the crowded old ship, Rey went to the cockpit where Poe was piloting. Rey, Poe, Chewie, and even Leia took it in turns to drop in and out of lightspeed, making their way to the Outer Rim in search of supplies and, hopefully, allies. But with very few exceptions, the rest of the Resistance was not allowed in the small space.

“Mind if I hang out here?” Rey asked. The lightsaber pieces were sticking out of her belt and all the stolen books in her arms. Her eyes were bloodshot.

Poe just shrugged. “Make yourself at home.”  He turned back to the blur of stars past the windscreen, calculating their position and their trajectory.

Rey folded herself into the back corner on the starboard side and slowly began taking the pieces of Luke’s lightsaber apart and spread them out on the floor around her. She still had no idea what she was looking for.

“It’s a machine, isn’t it?”

Rey looked up to see Poe watching her.

“Yeah?”

“You’re good at those,” he said. His eyes were bright, and he nodded, encouraging her.

The cockpit door opened with a _whoosh_ , and a voice called in. “You grew up under a Force-Sensitive tree.” It was Leia. She entered the small space, leaning heavily on her cane. “Can’t you sense that this is more than a machine?” She glanced imperiously at the parts scattered around Rey’s legs.

“Sorry, General,” Poe answered teasingly. “You know I can’t sense anything through the Force. Or keep it out.”

Leia sighed and sank into the back port seat.

“Out?” Rey asked curiously, regarding Poe.

“Sure, out. I don’t know many Force users, but I only know one person who can keep everyone out of her head, and that’s the General here.”

Leia was measuring up Rey. When he finished his flattering little speech, she said, “Poe, you’re dismissed.”

“I still have another standard hour at the helm!” He tried to argue for more flight-time. Everyone knew he was missing his X-wing.

“I think Rey and I can handle the old girl,” Leia said. “Go see what Finn and Rose are up to, and that’s an order, Commander.”

He grinned and disappeared with a salute.

Leia stiffly pulled herself to her feet, shut and locked the door, and settled into the co-pilot’s seat, patting the pilot’s seat next to her. “Forget that thing for a second, Rey.”

Rey obliged, settling next to Leia.

“What did my brother teach you in the few hours you spent with him? Anything useful?” she flung her feet up on the dashboard, mindful of the controls and missing all of them. She leaned back in the seat and waited.

Rey furrowed her brow. What had she learned? “That the light doesn’t belong to the Jedi,” she started.

Leia snorted. “Sorry,” she said. “Go on.”

“The Jedi failed to keep the light,” Rey continued. “And, I think,” she bit her lip. “He never really outlined a third lesson. But he saved us. So maybe.... That you have have to try.”

Leia smiled at that. “I like that. He tried. He always was that way.” Her voice was almost affectionate. “That was one of his last words to me before he turned Vader back to the light. I didn’t believe it could be done. He just said “I have to try,” and kissed me on the cheek before he left.”  

Neither of them mentioned Kylo Ren.

Leia broke the silence. “Now. Who do you need to keep out of your head?”

Rey felt like they’d just dropped out of lightspeed, Leia changed the subject so quickly.

Leia shook her head. “There’s no shame in it - Poe’s right, not many people can keep Force users out of their head. I’ve been practicing since I was a child, and it’s the area of the Force in which I am most powerful.”

If anyone else had said it, it would have sounded like she was bragging. Leia just sounded tired.

“Kylo Ren tried to get into my mind on the Starkiller Base. And Snoke - he said he bridged me with Kylo. But at the end of the battle, there was a flicker, Kylo tried to get back in.” Rey picked at the arm of the chair.

“And?”

“I shut the _Falcon_ ’s door. I don’t want him in my head.”

Leia turned to stare at the stars. A long moment passed where Leia knotted her fingers together. “I’m not a Jedi. Luke wanted to train me. I let him teach me a few tricks here and there, but my parents knew when they took me in they’d have to teach me to protect myself. Queen Breha taught me active meditation, Bail taught me to keep calm in stressful situations. All useful things for a politician.”

“Were they Jedi?”

“No. But when I was about twelve, a Rebel spy came and taught me to focus the Force, though she did not use that language. I only knew her has Fulcrum, but later I found out she’d been Anakin Skywalker’s padawan before she walked away.”

Leia took a breath. She didn’t usually talk so much about her past. Rey listened to everything, eyes wide.

“Those books can only take you so far into this world,” Leia concluded. “There are many philosophies, many paths, but as long as you use your gifts for good, you’ll stay in the light. I never needed to wield a lightsaber. Jedi were also negotiators and peacekeepers.”

“Peacekeepers with blasters?” Rey teased.

Leia tilted her head. “Sometimes. Now. We’ll start with the _Falcon_.”

“What do you mean?”

“You need some sort of... inner sanctuary. For me, it’s my mother’s old sparring rooms on Alderaan. I can go into that room in my mind, shut the door.”

“And no one can touch you?”

“More or less. If you have a safer spot, feel free to think of it. Now, close your eyes, and let’s mediate. Tap into exactly what qualities make you feel safe and protected. We’ll go from there.”  

They mediated for a bit, and tried other exercises to build up the walls of Rey’s mind, before a headache started to bloom behind the younger woman’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Rey said, scrubbing a hand over her face.

“Don’t be. You’re doing very well. And this is only a place to start.”

Rey swiveled the captain’s chair around to stare at the pile of components. “If only I knew where to start with that thing.”

Leia also turned, and considered the mess. Then, without warning, she summoned a piece towards her. “This is the emitter,” she said. And with a quick motion, she opened a hidden compartment and pulled out a shining crystal. “The strongest stars have hearts of kyber. Isn’t that in one of your books?”

“Yes,” Rey breathed.

“This is what it means. It’s a compound left over from the beginning of the universe. A force user harvests a crystal and builds their lightsaber around it. This one was Anakin Skywalker’s.”

She passed it to Rey. “I have no use for it. He... committed unspeakable acts with that lightsaber. In the end, Luke lost it and built his own.”

Though Leia’s words were heavy, the crystal felt so light in Rey’s hand. Her fingers curled around it.

“Don’t worry about fixing the lightsaber. Salvage what you can, scrap the rest. The Force is supposed to guide you in your design anyway,” Leia counselled.

Rey leapt to her feet. “I have to go get my staff,” she told Leia.

Leia smiled. “Of course you do. We’ll continue our lessons later. But don’t forget, Force user or no, everyone here knows something that no one else does. Learn from us all, Rey, and don’t forget to pass on what you learn.”

Rey nodded and, scooping up the rest of the Skywalker lightsaber parts, rushed into the body of the _Falcon_.

Leia leaned back in her seat and watched the stars fly past her window. She still had lessons to pass on, for anyone willing to learn, for as long as she could. It would be enough. And maybe, just maybe, she could still learn a few new tricks herself.


End file.
